Going deeper with Compassion International!!

So if you've been following my posts, you know that we have been sponsoring our beautiful little Rosa from Peru through Compassion for a few months now.  I honestly can't even begin to describe how much of a blessing this has been to us!  We've already received a letter from her and two very cute drawings and my heart was bursting when they came in the mail.  We've been fortunate enough to be able to send her and her family some extra gifts, including a gift for Rosa's 5th birthday!!  It feels so good to know that we are seriously making a monumental difference in this little girl's life through our sponsorship and gifts.  While this is very rewarding, I knew there had to be more that I could do.  I had to find a way to get involved and find a way to be more effective at getting the word out and raising awareness on child poverty.  Folks, there are kids dying EVERY day as a result of extreme poverty!!  In my search to find a way to serve, I came across a part of Compassion's website called "my advocacy" where I was invited to apply to be a volunteer child advocate.  I was hooked!!  What a great way to spend just a few hours per month on my off time!!  I turned in my application, background check, and got excited!!  I was contacted within a few days by Compassion and scheduled an orientation call.  The call went great and the ideas started rolling around in my head about how to get the word out and do my best to help get more children like Rosa sponsored.  I've completed my initial training and will be getting everything I need to get started within a few days, including specific child packets with the mission of getting those little ones sponsored!  Let me tell you how much it costs to sponsor a child.................$38/month..................yeah, that's all, $38 per month.  Guys and gals, that's literally a couple pizzas for us but to these kids, it's a life changer!!  Let's see, how many ways could we break this down...I already gave you the pizza analogy, how about ONE night out at the movies, ONE dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, less than ONE tank of gas, for you ladies, ONE manicure/pedicure, for some of my good friends out there, just a few Starbucks coffees!!  HAHA (you know who you are!! and yes I know you're sponsoring, just had to use the analogy!!)  The point is that I could go on and on!!  Come on guys, there are people out there who are HURTING, and STARVING and who have NO CLEAN WATER!!  Who are we to NOT try to help out while we sit on our couches eating take out pizza, watching satellite TV and complaining that we don't have enough??  Seriously??  Guys, let's get over ourselves for just a minute and THINK about this.  I'm sorry that I get a little charged up on this but it has really become a passion of mine.  Would you at least consider praying about this?  Just give me a chance to talk to you about it and if you don't want to hear it from me, that's fine.  Check out http://www.compassion.com/ for more info.  Until next time, Jon

What in the world is God teaching me through this???

OK, so I haven't been on here in a while.  Guess nothing has really hit me to write about..............well, actually I have lots to write about but just haven't found the time. 
A few months ago, March 13th to be exact, I wrote a silly post about how I, yes me, was going to try running.  I figured it would be a short lived deal and I would just run a few times and get sick of it.  Well, at first, that is sort of what happened.  I ran a mile that first day, then a few days later, ran another mile then.........well, yeah, I pretty much slacked off for a while.  Then, a couple friends here in our subdivision invited me to join their running challenge on Nike + and that's when the fun began.  My first run in the challenge was on April 26th.  I ran 1.1 miles and thought I was really doing something!!  My next run was like 1.2, then 1.8 (boy was I hitting it!!  LOL!!!) after that, it jumped....quick.....REAL quick!!  My next run was like 3.13, then 4.02, 4.52, etc. Within 3 weeks I hit 8 miles!!!  No stopping, no walking, 8.04 miles.....running!!  My longest run to date is 10.16 miles 2 days after my 35th birthday (who says I'm old!!!)  Hahaha!!  I don't even feel like I've gotten a real workout unless I get in at least 6 miles now!  Since April 26th, I've run a total of 129.61 miles!! What in the world is going on here?  There is NO way that I should be putting up distance like this such a short time in, but I'm doing it, and the only thing that keeps going through my mind is, What could God be teaching me through this?  I think of this while I'm running.  I just keep going, and going, and going.  Could He be teaching me to not give up, to stay the course, to keep pushing in other areas of my life??  My faith, my trust in Him, my relationship with my daughters, with my wife, my career??  I have no idea.  I may ramble a little here, so forgive me.  To some of you, this may seem trivial, but read my other post.  I was seriously the guy who had absolutely NO interest in running at all!!  There is no way that this is of my own ability.  I give credit to God in all of my accomplishments, including this.  I try to look deeper into the situation to try to see what I'm supposed to learn through all of my experiences.  That remains one of my toughest challenges, to try to take a step back from every situation or experience, whether good or bad and try to see what God is trying to teach me.  I LOVE Him.  I depend on Him and I do my best to trust Him in every area of my life.  I don't have all the answers and I certainly don't know exactly what He is trying to teach me through this but I do know this......I'm ready and willing to learn!!